Prayer in Islam - Essay Example

Prayer in Islam:
Prayer in Islam provides all Muslims with a great platform for communicating with God and acknowledging his power that has no parallel in the world. All around the globe, Muslims are required to pray five times a day essentially so that they remember the concept of the oneness of God and agree to His principles. There are myriad benefits associated with Islamic prayer, which are reflective of both spirituality and physical fitness. Prayer in Islam differs greatly from the prayer in other religions not only on the grounds of method, but also the content and frequency differ.
The spiritual benefits associated with prayer in Islam are heavily conspicuous to be ignored since they play a major role in alleviating a person’s obnoxious worries and moroseness. On the other hand, prayer in Islam also has immense physical benefits that are a great means of reducing the chances of many serious diseases. It is because a person does not have to stand or sit still in one place during the process of praying, rather all Muslims are required to adopt various positions during the prayer. The most important part of the Islamic prayer is the prostration when a Muslim has to bow down in front of God. It is a scientifically approved fact that when one adopts this position not once but many times a day, extra blood flows down to the brain and this blood flow is of immense importance. This greatly reduces the risk of many diseases like chilblain and also helps in the effective drainage of sinuses (Naik). An interesting fact associated with prayer in Islam is that the vertebral column adopts various postures like standing erect and bending as in prostration, due to which there are reduced chances of grave vertebral diseases.
Islamic prayer hugely differs from the Christian prayer in many ways. The content, frequency, purpose, style, and intention of prayer in Islam are all different from the Christian prayer. One of the basic differences is that Muslims are subjected to pray five times a day necessarily, and if one prayer is omitted then that prayer has to be performed at some other time in that day. Now in Christianity, there is no such rigid compulsion concerning prayers and any Christian can say a prayer at any time, which differs from the Islamic perspective of prayer. The compulsion of prayer in Islam is the most basic point that totally differs from the whole concept of prayer, which is mentioned in the Bible. Nowhere in Bible is mentioned this point that the followers of Jesus should essentially pray five times a day or even every other day. Unlike Muslims, Christians are given the freedom of choosing the time of saying their prayer. Prayer in Christianity is never obligatory but always voluntary (Schirrmacher). Generally, Christians gather on Saturdays or Sundays in the Church depending on what form of Christianity they follow. But in Islam, no matter what form of Islam is observed by the Muslims, all are required to pray five times every day. Read More